What is it about Spring that makes us want to clean things up?
Wash the windows, clean out the garage, sort the junk drawer… there’s a lot of talk about cleansing your body too but too much of it involves elaborate detox regimens or expensive pills, powders and potions. Instead, here are some real life, real food strategies to get the job done.
First, REDUCE THE TOXIC BURDEN you may be heaping on yourself everyday.
Upgrade your breakfast: is your tea or coffee at least organic? Molds and mycotoxins inherent to the fermentation process do not go away by adding boiling water to make our favorite beverages. If you eat breakfast, think protein and fat for sustained energy and mental focus and stay off the carb roller coaster during the day. Avoid processed foods as a rule all of the time. And finally, back off the booze. Seriously. What is it about the sedating, inhibition-lowering sugar syrup that is so intoxicating? Oh, right. The answer’s in the question.
Second, remember this rule of thumb:
VEGETABLES ARE CLEANSING; ANIMAL FOODS ARE NOURISHING.
Eat more vegetables to cleanse and eat only organically grown. Pesticide residues accumulate in your body and handicap your immune system. Add fresh cilantro and parsley to your salads or smoothies. Eat radishes, raw or roasted. Fermented foods like raw sauerkraut, kimchi and other probiotic vegetables are the scrubbing bubbles your gut needs to cleanse. Eat them. You don’t have to like them. Chewing one tablespoon of these a day is better than downing a dozen probiotic pills. Eat seaweed or take spirulina and chlorella tablets. These amazing sea vegetables actually bind to pesticides and heavy metals and escort them out of your body. Eat less meat and only pastured animal foods: “organic” isn’t enough! Wild fish and pastured eggs can fill the void if pastured meats are too expensive or less available to you.
Third, DRINK MORE WATER.
Start your day with a glass of clean water. Add a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar. The acetic acid and enzymes will help you eliminate the junk in your intestines just like vinegar descales soap scum on your shower door. It’s a basic cleaning method: scrub and rinse. And rinse again. These daily detox strategies will keep your body clean, energize your cells to resist disease and put that sparkle back in your eyes.
